Kevin Smith continues the story of the Masters of the Universe right where it left off.
Revelation starts up with a cataclysmic final battle between the heroic He-Man and the villainous Skeletor. When the dust settles, Eternia is fractured. It is now up to Teela to reunite the heroes and solve the mystery of the missing Sword of Power in a race against time to restore Eternia and prevent the end of the universe.
Let me first start out by saying I’m not a child of the 80s. I’m a child of the 70s. When the Masters of the Universe came out in toy stores, I really didn’t have an interest. I was 12 and toys were starting not to be my thing, but I was still into comic books. My first real exposure to MOTU had in DC Comics Presents Issue #47. Written by Paul Kupperberg and drawn by Curt Swan, Superman traveled to Eternia and was forced to battle He-Man. I really liked the story. It was action-packed and had a nice blend of sword and sorcery and science fiction. I piqued my interest and then DC ran another comic as a special insert in various comics. Again, I was really impressed.
I heard about the cartoon, so I decided to check it out. I figured if it was close to the comics how good it would be. Imagine my surprise when I actually watched this piece of crap. The stories were god awful and being a Filmation re-used so many of the same cartoon cells that I saw in cartoons like their Tarzan cartoon back in the 70s. Just really bad. To this day, I will never understand the appeal of this cartoon.
In 2002, the MOTU cartoon has a modern rebirth which was 100 times better than the 80’s cartoon. I truly enjoyed it. But this show only lasted 2 seasons.
Flashforward to 2021. Writer/Director Kevin Smith, who is a huge fan of the original series, decides to bring back MOT. Instead of rebooting the series, continues where the original series, and letting it grow with the original audience. This can seriously be considered a sequel, but unlike the original, this isn’t for kids. There are mature themes in this series, but it works here.
Smith assembled a great voice cast here too. Mark Hamill as Skeletor, Lena Headey as Evil-Lyn, Chris Wood as Prince Adam / He-Man, Sarah Michelle Gellar as Teela, Liam Cunningham as Man-At-Arms, Stephen Root as Cringer just to name a few. Very solid and they all sound great and really give it their all to the characters.
The animation is nice too. Very clean and fluid with the action sequences. Add that to a solid story and you have a great cartoon here.
The only real complaint I have is the fact that it was only 5 episodes. It left me wanting more, but right now the next 5 episodes are TBD.
I’m not saying I’m a He-Man fan at all now, but I sure enjoyed the heck out of this show. I think it’s perfect for both old and new fans.
Masters of the Universe: Revelation premieres on Netflix on July 23rd, 2021 at 3:00 AM EDT.
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